1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an appliance programmer, and is more particularly concerned with techniques for altering a predetermined program of appliance operations.
2. Description of the Prior Art
U.S. Pat. No. 3,662,186, assigned to Whirlpool Corporation, discloses a programmer for an appliance, in particular a dishwasher, in which manual switches may be selectively operated to alter the operation of the appliance. However, this patent does not disclose the use of a universal integrated circuit having certain inputs which may be sampled at the beginning of the program to automatically alter the program.
Sampling techniques per se are old in the art, as will be recognized by reference to U.S. Pat. No. 3,564,429 wherein input lines are sampled to establish the sampling rate of an oscillator.
Electronic timers and resettable clocks are also well known in the art as evidenced by the aforementioned U.S. Pat. No. 3,662,186 and by U.S. Pat. No. 3,639,844 and 3,702,030.